All 1 Lord Sentamu contributions to the Higher Education and Research Act 2017

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Mon 23rd Jan 2017
Higher Education and Research Bill
Lords Chamber

Committee: 5th sitting (Hansard - continued): House of Lords

Higher Education and Research Bill Debate

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Department: Department for Education

Higher Education and Research Bill

Lord Sentamu Excerpts
Committee: 5th sitting (Hansard - continued): House of Lords
Monday 23rd January 2017

(7 years, 10 months ago)

Lords Chamber
Read Full debate Higher Education and Research Act 2017 Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts Amendment Paper: HL Bill 76-VI Sixth marshalled list for Committee (PDF, 214KB) - (23 Jan 2017)
Lord Sentamu Portrait The Archbishop of York
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My Lords, the amendment is asking the bodies concerned to seek advice from the commission and those who advise that tells them it would be good to do it this way. Because of its permissive nature, I hope the Minister will see this as helping. As somebody from a minority ethnic group, I have always benefited from the human rights commission. The advice that I have just mentioned is not intrusive; it is a good thing. Universities should hold before themselves, in all their aspects, a mirror, to see whether their leadership, in different places, reflects the nature of the university. Noble Lords know that the Church of England has finally overcome the question of women as bishops in the representative route, but we still have a big job in terms of minority ethnic bodies. Given what was said in the Stephen Lawrence inquiry, I feel it is quite appropriate. However good they are, institutions need to be aware that, within their set-up, they could unwittingly be discriminating against people. The amendment, which is permissive and not difficult, simply asks for bodies to give advice to improve gender diversity as well as ethnic groups. I hope we all would say that that is good advice.